England batsman Eoin Morgan is out of World Cup after breaking his finger

The confirmation that Eoin Morgan will miss the World Cup has reinforced Andy
Flower’s view that scheduling has to improve as England returned home on
Tuesday from a three-month tour to Australia with barely enough time to
change their dollars to rupees before flying to Bangladesh on Saturday.

Big blow: Eoin Morgan is a 'serious loss' to England's World Cup squad according to Andy FlowerPhoto: PA

England were forced replace Morgan after being told he needs surgery on a broken finger sustained during a seven match one-day series in Australia that saw six England players return home early with injuries.

His absence offers an opportunity for Ravi Bopara to revive his international career but also raised further questions about the packed international schedule. England are fortunate that Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann and Paul Collingwood appear fit enough at this stage to travel to the sub-continent, but their injuries will mean a disjointed build up and weakened teams for the practice matches against Canada and Pakistan.

The pattern of Ashes tour and World Cup in the same winter will not happen again for England, but the tendency for administrators to look hungrily at gaps in the calendar and dream of further profits makes players and coaches suspect history may repeat itself.

“The most important point is we have played three and a half months of high intensity cricket and it is inevitable you will pick up injuries during that time. It is the nature of the sport,” said Flower.

“But to have the tour ending just before the World Cup starts does not make a lot of sense to me. That is a very simple lesson to be learned. Morgan is a serious loss to us. He has been a very influential limited overs performer for us since he joined the team but Ravi Bopara is an exciting young cricketer in his own right.”

England left for Australia on Oct 30 and, if they reach the World Cup final, their winter will not end until April 2. The fact several players will be appearing in the IPL in the gap between World Cup and the first Test of the summer against Sri Lanka starting on May 26 (including Morgan who will be fit by then) does not help their argument that there is too much cricket, but the cost to the game is an increasing number of players dropping out of the World Cup.

Australia have lost Mike Hussey and Nathan Hauritz to injury while Morgan’s absence will rob the tournament of one of world cricket’s most exciting and innovative young batsman.

“Over the last 12 or 18 months he has been standout batsman for us in one day cricket and we all see the World Cup as a forum to showcase your talents and your skills so he is bitterly disappointed to be missing out," said captain Andrew Strauss.

“Thankfully he is young bloke with plenty more opportunities ahead of him and for the time being we are going to have to make do without him. I am sure we will be able to do that.”

As if to remind Strauss and Flower of their achievements only a month ago, a replica Ashes urn was sat on the podium on Tuesday. Despite the disappointment of a 6-1 defeat in the one-day series, this has been a remarkable winter for Strauss, one he dubbed as potentially “the greatest” for English cricket back in October if Ashes and World Cup could be secured.

“This was the best and most successful tour I have been on,” he said about Australia. “Obviously we did not do as well as we would have liked in one-dayers but main priority going out to Australia was to retain the Ashes and the fact we did that and style we did it speaks volumes for the players who went out there and performed under pressure.

"We are all exceptionally proud of what we have done and are now turning our attention towards the World Cup which is again something we are motivated and excited by.

"The atmosphere in the World Cup is going to be intoxicating. All the best players in the world are going to be there and ultimately only one team is going to walk away with the World Cup. The thought of that being us is very exciting. If we were to complete the double of an Ashes win and a World Cup in six months then that would be the highlight of all our careers.”